The Quinnipiac women’s basketball team (23-6, 16-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) will finish up its regular season schedule and celebrate senior day at home in a Saturday afternoon clash against the Canisius Golden Griffins (9-19, 8-11 MAAC).
The Bobcats control their own destiny for getting the No. 1 seed in the MAAC after their dominating win over Marist on Thursday night. Canisius is fighting for position in the bottom half of the conference after its loss to Fairfield on Thursday night.
Previous matchup:
This will be the second meeting between the Bobcats and the Golden Griffins this season, with the Bobcats winning the first matchup 64-53 back in early January. The Bobcats needed a strong fourth quarter to come away with the win after they were only up one at the end of the third. Jen Fay led the way for the Bobcats with 16 points and Paula Strautmane contributed 14 points in the win. Margret Halfdanardottir led Canisius with 12 points and two Golden Griffins each contributed ten in the loss.
What’s at stake:
The Bobcats control their own destiny for seeding in the MAAC tournament, which begins next week. The Bobcats are atop the MAAC at 16-3 and hold the tiebreaker with Rider who also stands at 16-3 in the MAAC after Quinnipiac swept the season series between the two. A win from the Bobcats and they are MAAC regular season champions; loss and they will need a loss from Rider on Sunday afternoon in order to clinch the No. 1 seed.
The Golden Griffins currently sit at the No. 8 seed and are tied with Monmouth at 8-11 for the upcoming MAAC tournament and they will finish either in the seven or eight spot; a win or a loss on Saturday and they will have to wait until Monmouth plays on Sunday to see what seed they will receive in the MAAC tournament.
Keys to the game:
Quinnipiac: After some early season woes on the offensive side of the ball, the Bobcats have seemed to right the ship on offense. They have scored over 69 points in five of the current six game winning streak that they are on. They have to continue to do this to have a good shot at winning this matchup. Tricia Fabbri has gone away from the patented gold rush lineups over the last couple weeks of the season and this is when the offensive production has picked up. This Quinnipiac team can lock up the Golden Griffins on defense, but they need solid offensive production if they want to win this game.
Canisius: One problem that the Golden Griffins have had this season has been playing four quarters. In a recent post-game press conference, Canisius head coach Terry Zeh said that they can hang with the best of them through three quarters and if the game ended after three that they would be good all year long; this was the case the first time against Quinnipiac. The Golden Griffins entered the fourth quarter only down one, but were outscored by ten in the fourth. They need to be able to play 40 minutes because to beat a team like Quinnipiac, you need to be great for 40 minutes and if Canisius can do that, it will have a good shot to win the game.
Players to watch:
Quinnipiac: Aryn McClure needs to keep up her consistent play on the offensive end for the Bobcats. The former MAAC rookie of the year has been relatively quiet compared to her production last season. The going away of the gold rush has benefitted McClure immensely after she was named MAAC player of the week two weeks ago. When McClure is on her game, her production cannot be replaced so she needs to keep up her offensive consistency for this Bobcats team to keep their winning streak alive.
Canisius: Sara Hinriksdottir is the leading scoring for the Golden Griffins. The sophomore is averaging 15 points per game and is shooting over 34 percent from three point range. She can score down low as well as spread the floor and shoot the three ball. Star players need to show up in big games like these and it is going to be critical for Canisius to get her going offensively. She is going to have to work hard for her points considering the strength of Quinnipiac’s defense.
The Bobcats will take on the Golden Griffins and celebrate senior day on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Lender Court at the TD Bank Sports Center.
